Metal oxide materials have been widely utilized in various applications including transparent electronics, smart windows, high-density magnetic memory, and coatings. However, low-cost, large scale preparation of metal oxide particles and films has heretofore posed a significant challenge. There is a need for a simple, environmentally friendly, straightforward, industrially scalable process that provides a pathway to make metal oxide particles having at least one well-defined morphology such as, for example, octahedral nanocrystals, nanobelts, nanospheres and nanowires.